Learning Communities Research and Practice (LCRP - E-Journal, Washington Center at The Evergreen State College Research)
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A Workbook for Designing, Building, and Sustaining Learning Communities
Get PDFTo address the professional development needs of learning community instructors at Kingsborough Community College, faculty coordinators and program directors developed a workbook for instructional teams. This workbook walks instructors through the collaborative process of creating and sustaining successful links and focuses on what we believe is the heart of learning community work—transparency, relationship building, integration, assessment, and reflection. It both emerged from and encourages a backward design approach—starting with student learning outcomes and working backward to provide the collaboration, integration, and knowledge-construction that define learning communities and make the learning outcomes achievable. It further reflects the ongoing and cyclic nature of the collaborative process necessary for strong learning communities (Graziano & Kahn, 2013), taking collaborators from initial meetings through the development of deep and sustained integration, to assessment, reflection, and redesign. This workbook has been central in campus-wide efforts at Kingsborough to maintain philosophical and pedagogical integrity while intentionally developing and scaling learning communities; it is presented here as a resource that may be adapted to help serve the professional development needs of programs and instructors at other campuses
Why STEM Learning Communities Work: The Development of Psychosocial Learning Factors Through Social Interaction
Get PDFSTEM learning communities facilitate student academic success and persistence in science disciplines. This prompted us to explore the underlying factors that make learning communities successful. In this paper, we report findings from an illustrative case study of a 2-year STEM-based learning community designed to identify and describe these factors. A directed content analysis of 119 student narrative documents resulted in 6 content codes organized into two primary categories: academic self-regulation, STEM identity, metacognition, and self-efficacy comprise the psychosocial or ‘affect’ learning factors that students identified as improved as a result of their participation in the learning community; and interaction with faculty/staff/STEM professionals, and interaction with peers represent the aspects of the learning community that students identified as meaningful learning community experiences related to their academic development. In addition, we analyzed 3 sets of code co-occurrences to understand how the content codes interrelate. Our findings indicate that certain psychosocial learning factors are developed through social interactions within the context of learning community participation, which may help explain the positive effects of student participation in learning communities
Developing a comprehensive learning community program: Implementing a learning community curriculum
Get PDFThis is the second of a three-part series which will share information about how a mid-size, comprehensive university developed a learning community program, including a residential curriculum. Through intentional collaboration and partnerships, the team, comprised of faculty and staff throughout the university, developed a “multi-year plan for learning communities to help create and support an intentional, integrative and transformational experience that is student-centered, faculty-led, and administratively supported” (UNI, 2014)
Developing a comprehensive learning community program: Navigating change through shifting institutional priorities
Get PDFThis is the third of a three-part series which will share information about how a mid-size, comprehensive university has worked to a learning community program, including a residential curriculum. This article focuses on how those working with Learning Communities navigate program development during changing institutional priorities
Lessons from a Scale-Up of Residentially Linked Courses
Get PDFOne form of learning community involves students taking a shared academic course while living together. At Elon University between 2011 and 2015, in a partnership between academic and student life portions of the university, this form of learning community was scaled up to include more than half of first-year students in the fall semester. Each cohort of students lived in a residential neighborhood together and took one of two required four-credit general education courses, COR 110 (an interdisciplinary seminar) or ENG 110 (a writing course). Lessons learned across the five years include the importance of building with faculty guidance, linking to neighborhoods (not halls), integrating faculty development (and not adding it, whenever possible), being attentive to building design and management, rewarding faculty and staff leadership, and assessing and experimenting rigorously
Long Term Benefits for Women in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Living-Learning Community
Get PDFScience, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees provide opportunities for economic mobility. Yet women, underrepresented minority (URM), and first-generation college students remain disproportionately underrepresented in STEM fields. This study examined the effectiveness of a living-learning community (LLC) for URM and first-generation first-year women interested in STEM. The authors utilized a matched sample post-hoc analysis to examine undergraduate and graduate degree attainment in science related fields for women who participated in the Women in Science Residence Program (WISERP) LLC compared to matched controls. The control group was matched on twelve characteristics that are associated with retention in STEM. First-generation college students in the LLC were significantly more likely to receive an undergraduate degree in science; URM students were more likely to receive an undergraduate degree in a science related field, nearly three times as likely to receive a master’s degree in science and more than three times as likely to receive a graduate degree in science compared to their matched controls. The results indicate that a one-year intervention can meaningfully impact persistence of at-risk populations in attaining STEM bachelor’s degrees and in enrolling in STEM graduate programs and invite further investigation into the factors contributing to the beneficial impact of LLCs
Beyond the Traditional Retention Data: A Qualitative Study of the Social Benefits of Living Learning Communities
Get PDFLiving Learning Communities (LLCs) have been shown to increase student retention rates and academic performance (Hotchkiss, Moore, & Pitts, 2006), as well as increase overall satisfaction with college (Baker & Pomerantz, 2000) and increase cognitive skills (Walker, 2003). These benefits have been demonstrated in a variety of institutions with diverse students (Andrade, 2007). However, these studies have relied on quantitative measures of assessment. As suggested by Taylor, Moore, MacGregor, and Lindblad (2003) and Ward and Commander (2011), more qualitative data is needed to really understand why LLCs are linked to positive outcomes. This qualitative study collected focus group data from both LLC students and non-LLC students to determine what possible social and psychological benefits students reported about their LLC or university experiences. Themes emerged from the qualitative data to reveal that LLC students do experience some of the same university life experiences that non-LLC students experience. However, LLC students reported richer connections to faculty and students, as well as additional social and academic opportunities
Developing Leaders Through Service at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Get PDFFirst year learning community (LC) freshmen entering as education majors participated in year-long activities related to service learning and leadership development. Activities included fall cohort classes with shared content, a common read, and a spring seminar that included leadership learning, fund raising, and a short-term service project in an alternative school setting. Students were compared with other LC freshman not engaged in the project, non-education LC students, and those not in learning communities across measures of attitudes toward volunteerism and diverse groups, grades, and rates of volunteering. Additional qualitative data were collected in regard to self-reflection of those involved in the service-learning project. Survey results were inconclusive, though GPA and volunteer involvement data were positive for students who participated. These findings are discussed in light of current best practice regarding high impact practices and Liberal Education America’s Promise and support the continued use of first year service learning and leadership activities
When the Due Date is not the “Do” Date!
Get PDFOur students consistently hand in assignments late, or complete them at the last minute. Why is it that they know about assignments all term long yet only begin them the night before the assignment is due? Based on a career-focused learning community at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York, this article looks at ways to help our “millennial” students develop better time management skills. It shows how time management and prioritizing can be introduced as a tool for success in college and life and offers suggestions to better engage students in getting assignments done in a timely manner
Writing the Narrative of Learning Communities: A Collective Project
Get PDFThis editorial is written by Sara Huntington, Associate Editor of LCRP. She reflects on her own experience with teaching and creating Learning Communities and on the role of LCRP in the development and dissemination of our collective work